'Bully,' the movie gets the discussion going

Published 11:50 pm, Thursday, March 29, 2012

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A documentary that follows several families affected by bullying is a launching pad for a larger social media initiative surrounding what has become a hot topic in schools around the country.

Directed by Lee Hirsch, "Bully" includes scenes of a school administrator telling a parent a bus is safe and then cuts to a clip of a boy getting choked on the bus.

Lisa Evarts, whose teenage son Ells Evarts was bullied at a New Haven high school, said they definitely plan to go see the documentary.

"We want to see if this is one of those candy-coated documentaries where it shows all the adults involved as so helpful," Evarts said. "He's sort of pessimistic they're not going to show what it's really like."

Ells Evarts said he was repeatedly harassed on the school bus by a bully who picked on him because he has Asperger's syndrome, a developmental disorder.

"Bully" opens in select theaters, including some in New York City on Friday and will open in top 25 markets on April 13. Showings will expand based on how it performs in those markets, said Adam Birnbaum, director of film programming for the Avon Theatre in Stamford.

"We've gotten no clear sign from the distributor about when it will expand into this market," Birnbaum said.

The Weinstein Co., which released the film, has launched a social media campaign around the issue of bullying.

It has campaigned to get "Did you know 13 million kids get bullied every year? I support @BullyMovie. Let's make it a trend: #BullyMovie" retweeted as many times as possible. Celebrities like Zooey Deschanel and Katy Perry are publicly supporting the campaign. A link on the movie's website, thebullyproject.com, leads to a forum that allows people to share photos, videos and testimonials about their personal bullying stories.

The film was originally rated R because of language, but was later changed to "unrated" after widespread complaints that the rating would prevent children, the ones who need to see the film most, from viewing it.